Nokia N900

There's a lot to like about the Nokia N900 already, but integration with Meccano's robotics kits is the icing on the cake. Unfortunately this isn't an official app, but the handiwork of one of the Maemo open-source advocates at Nokia, who can now be followed around his house with the robot and N900 playing music.

We sat down at a roundtable this afternoon with Nokia's Ari Jaaksi, VP of software at the company, and talked about the Nokia N900 and the Maemo 5 OS it runs. Describing the N900 as "your internet device on the go" and Maemo as "putting the internet first", it's obvious that Jaaksi - and Nokia - have the MID segment in their sights; however they're also upfront about the issues they're going to face not only with their first-gen hardware but the ongoing development of the platform.

While the Booklet 3G is certainly a neat addition to the netbook segment, there's something undeniably more appealing about the Nokia N900. We've seen all the specifications and now know the unsubsidized price, so it was about time for some hands-on experience with Nokia's latest flagship.

The Nokia N900 has certainly prompted some discussion, blending the company's developments in the Nseries range and their Internet Tablet models, and at Nokia World this morning they confirmed details of the touchscreen device. Set to land in October 2009, it'll be priced at €500 pre-subsidies.

It's September 2nd, and that can only mean it's the first day of Nokia World, the Finnish company's yearly expo for all that is right and good in the worlds of Symbian, cellular and now Maemo 5. While leaks and pre-announcements have tipped us on much of what the company has in store for us, that hasn't stopped SlashGear from heading over to sunny Stuttgart for the event.

We're starting to really enjoy seeing these N900 videos. The first ones we saw were some pretty quick, albeit informative glimpses of what the N900 was; and then we got a quick taste of what the camera is capable of; and most recently a very loud (both audibly and visually) promotional video. This time around, we've got a clear-cut display of what we're looking at, and what we should expect when the N900 finally launches.

Live footage of the Nokia N900 hasn't been in short supply - in fact Nokia themselves provided some decent walkthrough videos of their new smartphone/internet tablet hybrid - but there's nothing like a few in-the-wild shots to get the blood pumping. Happily there's more than just one prototype N900 in the wild, and now that the touchscreen Maemo marvel is finally official they're starting to come out of the woodwork.

We have talked about the Nokia N900 a few times already and we know most of the details of the device. The N900 will be the first Nokia mobile phone to run Maemo, which is Linux derived. I can say that the N900 is the first Nokia handset that I have found particularly appealing in a long time.

In the face of an early review and leaked press shots, Nokia have decided to officially announce the N900 together with its Maemo 5 OS. Set to get their official unveil at Nokia World next week, the N900 packs HSPA, WiFi and 32GB of storage into a 3.5-inch WVGA resistive touchscreen device powered by an ARM Cortex-A8 with 1GB of RAM, while Maemo 5 supports desktop-style multitasking, Nokia Messaging and a new "cloud" UI.

There's been plenty of images of the Nokia N900, or Rover if you prefer, up until this moment in time, but most of them just seemed to lack that "official" flare. That kind of picture that we all look for, especially when it comes to the alternative "blurry" cam photos. And here we have the official photo of the Nokia internet tablet, which is slated to have an official release date next week, during Nokia World. But, here's the image we've been waiting for, minus a full keyboard, but it does show some awesome headphones.